The Beat

A patient engaged in their own care enjoys better outcomes. But when someone is first diagnosed with cancer, they’re in shock and simply can’t process the information provided by their provider team. And once they’re ready to explore their treatment options, ‘Dr. Google’ overwhelms them with irrelevant and often inaccurate information.

Maya Said is the Founder and CEO of Outcomes4Me, an app designed to empower cancer patients with personalized treatment options, helping them take back control of their care. Outcomes4Me’s AI-powered platform harnesses regulatory-grade, real-world data to generate deeper insights that improve health outcomes. An engineer and scientist by training, Maya spent 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry before building Outcomes4Me in 2017.

On this episode of The Beat, Maya joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain and Patricia Bradley to explain how becoming a patient herself inspired Maya to build the app. She explains how Outcomes4Me builds trust by giving users control of their own data, describing how the app learns about and adapts to user preferences. Listen in to understand how Outcomes4Me cuts through the noise, meets people where they are and delivers scientific, timely information about a user’s treatment options. 

Topics Covered

• How becoming a patient herself inspired Maya to create Outcomes4Me
• How the Outcomes4Me app gives cancer patients personalized treatment options based on NCCN guidelines
• Who answers user questions on the Outcomes4Me platform
• How Outcomes4Me serves as a partner with the cancer patient’s existing physician
• How Outcomes4Me builds trust by giving users control of their own data
• Outcomes4Me’s collaborations with other organizations, academic institutions and providers
• How Outcomes4Me learns about and adapts to user preferences
• What it means to ‘meet people where they are’ and how Outcomes4Me is working to do that
• How Outcomes4Me accelerates the process of getting medical literature to clinical systems
• How Outcomes4Me offers users clinical trials as a treatment option

Connect with Maya Said

Outcomes4Me

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter
 

Resources

National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Invitae

Wolters Kluwer Health

National Cancer Institute

Outcomes4Me’s Partnership with Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Piqray

Foundation Medicine’s Study on Genomic Testing

San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

ClinicalTrials.gov

Introductory Quote

[0:53] “What Outcomes4Me is about is really to help empower cancer patients with personalized treatment options to take back control of their care.”

About Julia Hu:

Julia Hu is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Lark. Founded on the personal experience of having grown up with an undiagnosed chronic condition, Julia is passionate about bringing compassionate care to those struggling with or at risk of chronic disease. Hu was named one of the “Top 10 Women in Tech” by Forbes and was a winner of Inc. Magazine’s “30 under 30”. Prior to founding Lark in 2011, Julia ran a global startup incubator, the Clean Tech Open, built a sustainable construction startup and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Stanford’s StartX incubator. She is on the board of the Council for Diabetes Prevention and a Singularity University faculty member. Hu received her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at Stanford University and half of an MBA from MIT Sloan before founding Lark. Julia loves to stay fit with hip hop.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Lark Health helps, through conversational AI, anyone struggling with a chronic condition, or at high risk of chronic disease, to live a happier and healthier life.
• Lark Health has been clinically effective in managing pre-diabetes in areas with shortages of healthcare professionals.
• If not for the Lark Virtual Diabetes Prevention Program, only 5% of the population in those areas would have had access to in-person care services.
• Conversational AI and remote patient monitoring can provide care delivery in chronic preventative and behavioral health areas.
• It took Lark seven years to train their AI with a million and a half patients before they started getting clinical equivalents to live nurses for the disease states the platform covers.
• In a post-COVID world, Lark provides an excellent opportunity to turn healthcare into a system that services each patient individually to their needs.

Resources:

• Follow and connect with Julia Hu on LinkedIn
• Follow Lark Health on LinkedIn
• Discover more about Lark Health on their Website

‘Shopping’ for healthcare is no easy task. Most health plan websites and mobile apps are challenging to navigate, offering search results that are little more than a list of doctors or clinics. But HealthSparq is on a mission to make the process easier, giving people the information they need to find the right practitioner and get the right care at the right time.

Mark Menton is the General Manager of HealthSparq, a technology company that partners with health plans to help members make smarter healthcare decisions. Mark’s team is committed to sharing cost and quality information about doctors, medical services, doctors and medication with its 80 million members across the US. Mark has nearly two decades of experience in member guidance solutions, serving as CEO of ClarusHealth Solutions before its acquisition by HealthSparq in 2014.

On this episode of The Beat, Marcus joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss HealthSparq’s approach to helping people find a doctor they relate to and humanizing the language of healthcare. Mark reflects on what differentiates healthcare from other consumer experiences, describing how he thinks about personalizing the member experience without violating people’s privacy. Listen in for Mark’s insight on the benefits of delivering the right care at the right time and learn how HealthSparq is working with health plans to drive awareness and utilization of their mobile apps.

Topics Covered

• How HealthSparq works with health plans to help members make smarter healthcare decisions
• HealthSparq’s approach to matching people with a doctor they can relate to
• How HealthSparq is humanizing the language of healthcare
• How Mark thinks about personalizing the member experience without violating people’s privacy
• The cost and quality benefit of helping people get the right care at the right time
• What metrics Mark’s team uses to measure their success
• Why HealthSparq physician reviews focus on the quality of the experience and not clinical delivery
• HealthSparq’s work with health plan partners to drive awareness and utilization of their mobile apps
• What differentiates healthcare from other consumer experiences
• How Mark defines health as the ability to live your life and healthcare as a ‘necessary evil’

Connect with Mark Menton

HealthSparq

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Resources

CLEAR App

Introductory Quote

[4:40] “You’re trying to find a doctor that you can trust [and] that you’re comfortable with because you’re going to build a relationship. Our head of design and research has joked for years [that] it's more Match.com than Google.”

Getting a patient through a mental illness is much more complex than finding the right pharmaceuticals.

But how do we develop technological solutions for earlier stage intervention and treatment options while protecting patient privacy?

Kabir Nath was the President & CEO of Otsuka North America, a pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Princeton, New Jersey. Since recording, he has recently transitioned into a global role as the the Senior Managing Director, Global Pharmaceutical Business of Otsuka. Throughout his career, Kabir has shaped strategy to deliver results in complex, challenging business environments at the country, regional and global level. At Otsuka, a 101-year-old Japanese company with a blend of Japanese and American cultures, Kabir puts his purpose into practice daily.

On this episode, Kabir joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss how the healthcare system is changing and his view on how Otsuka fits into the spectrum of mental health treatment innovation. They look at the move from mental illness to mental wellness through the utilization of technology and data for earlier interventions.

Listen as Kabir shares about how Otsuka is utilizing partnerships for technological advances to push at the edges of what can be different for future mental health treatments.

Topics Covered

• The challenge of treating mental illness beyond pharmaceuticals
• How Otsuka is partnering with other companies to develop better treatments through utilizing technology for earlier intervention
• Otsuka’s partnership with Verily Life Sciences on the creation of a prescription digital therapeutic
• The quest to agree on the language used to discuss mental health and how Otsuka is staying true to their mission of realizing the value of every mind
• What Kabir sees as the most exciting advances on the horizon in mental health treatment options

Connect with Kabir Nath

• Kabir Nath on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain, & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shlain on Twitter
• Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Resources

• Otsuka US
• ViVE

When Walmart launched its $4 generics program in 2006, the retailer was amazed by how many Americans had prescriptions they weren’t getting filled, either because they couldn’t afford care, or they were afraid to find out how much the drug might cost.

And that key learning has guided Walmart Health ever since, as they work to address issues of accessibility, affordability and complexity in the healthcare system.

Marcus Osborne is the Senior Vice President of Walmart Health, where he focuses on driving innovation and growth in healthcare for the retail giant. Marcus has been with the organization for 15 years, and he is on a mission to provide high-quality care to the Walmart customer base.

On this episode of The Beat, Marcus joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the evolution of Walmart Health, explaining why Walmart got into the primary care business and what it looks like to engage in their integrated experience. Marcus describes how delivering on the Walmart motto—save money; live better—builds trust with its healthcare customers. Listen in to understand Marcus’ concerns around staffing Walmart Health at scale and learn how his team is leveraging technology to provide quality care at a low cost.

Topics Covered

• Marcus’ role in driving innovation and growth in healthcare for Walmart
• The key learning from Walmart’s $4 prescription program
• Why Walmart got into the business of providing primary care
• Marcus' take on healthcare as an omnichannel undertaking
• How Marcus distinguishes among customers, consumers and patients
• How delivering on the Walmart motto (save money; live better) builds trust with consumers
• How Walmart is leveraging technology to provide a high standard of care at a low cost
• What the integrated Walmart Health experience looks like and how it makes healthcare ‘shoppable’
• How Marcus thinks about staffing Walmart Health at scale
• Marcus’ challenge to innovators on serving the Walmart customer base

Connect with Marcus Osborne

Walmart Health

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

MeMD

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Vegan Health

Dr. Cheryl Pegus

Introductory Quote

[28:36] “By us using the latest and greatest technology, it allows us to operate more effectively, more efficiently, at a much lower cost. And so, sometimes people assume that quality and cost run counter, and I would say that in healthcare, that is the biggest mistake. They don’t run counter. They actually operate [in] parallel.”

About Dr. Rowland Illing:

Dr. Rowland Illing is the Chief Medical Officer and Director of International Public Sector Health for Amazon Web Services (AWS). He has responsibility for healthcare strategy and operations for AWS internationally, excluding the US & China. This encompasses healthcare providers, payors, and health technology companies. He is passionate about the delivery of person-centered care, increasing access, and improving outcomes at a lower cost by accelerating the digitization and utilization of healthcare data. Rowland, who trained at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities, continues to present and publish on topics including digital healthcare and AI. 

Things You’ll Learn:

• Technologies developing AI and Machine Learning can use data analytics to improve health equity by aiding ambulatory care and monitoring.
• On-premises storage will not be enough in a likely future where data is being collected not only on-site but also in an ambulatory manner through wearable devices that bring care closer to the patients.
• AI can help physicians and healthcare providers with burnout by targeting care for patients at the right time with the right intervention thanks to collected data.
• Cloud technology can improve health equity through the democratization of access, lowering costs, and tailoring care for each individual.
• Amazon Web Services has a three-year program in place to train all-comers in AI and ML with scholarships available.

Resources:

• Connect and follow Dr. Rowland Illing on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amazon Web Series on LinkedIn.
• Discover the AWS for Healthcare Website
• Explore the ViVE Website
• Learn more about Propeller
• Read about ArmadaHealth
• Visit the AWS AI & ML Scholarship Program Website
• Learn about UC Davis Health Cloud Innovation Center
• Discover and download SageMaker Studio Lab

In 2014, women made 80% of the healthcare decisions in the US. Yet innovation in the digital health space largely ignored their unique needs.

That's when Kate Ryder launched Maven Clinic, a digital-first platform designed to support women and families with holistic care around fertility, pregnancy and parenting.

Today, Maven is the largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, serving 10M people to date. Recognized as Fast Company’s Most Innovative Health Company, Maven is on a mission to reduce costs and drive better health outcomes for women and children.

On this episode of The Beat, Kate joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati, Dr. Jordan Shlain and Patricia Bradley to describe how Maven serves individuals, employers and payers, helping women find healthcare providers that fit their preferences. Kate explains why Maven expanded to include family health and what the platform offers in terms of paternal and postpartum support. Listen in to understand the challenge Kate faces in scaling her team and find out how she is working to personalize the Maven experience—without compromising data security.

Topics Covered

• What inspired Kate’s shift from journalism to digital health
• How Maven serves individuals, employers and payers
• How Maven helps patients find best-in-class OBs and fertility clinics to fit their preferences
• Kate’s take on why there was so little innovation around women’s health prior to Maven and the challenge she faced finding investors early on
• Why Kate’s team expanded Maven to include family health
• What Maven offers in terms of paternal and postpartum support for new parents
• The challenge Kate faces in scaling the Maven team at the rate she wants to innovate
• Kate’s insight on how the relationship with the patient is undervalued in the digital health ecosystem
• How Kate thinks about personalizing the Maven experience without compromising data security
• The financial metrics and clinical outcomes Maven tracks
   

Connect with Kate Ryder

Maven Clinic

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn
 

Resources

Jawbone Health

PillPack

Omada

ACOG

American Medical Assocation

Glen Tullman at Transcarent

Build Back Better

The Teladoc Livongo Merger

Introductory Quote

[3:05] “Women controlled 80% of the healthcare decisions in the US, meaning they control 80% of the largest industry—a multitrillion-dollar industry. And yet, the products and services for women, particularly around that point at which they start a family, just left so much to be desired.”

Health happens inside and outside the four walls of a hospital. Precision health uses data from a wide variety of non-clinical sources to arrive at the best treatment for a person or a community. But how do we use technology to improve the quality of life of a patient? By putting the patient front and center in the data.

Dr. Jess Mega is a cardiologist and the Co-Founder and Chief Medical & Scientific Officer at Verily, a research organization devoted to the study of life sciences. In her role as a cardiologist and caring for patients on the frontline, she felt compelled to bring together technology, life science, and health care to keep up with the next generation of precision health.

On this episode, Dr. Mega joins hosts Dr. Guatam Gulati and Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss Verily’s focus on translating technological innovations and scientific insights into partnerships and programs that improve patient outcomes.

Topics Covered

• Why the information that we put into electronic health records is just one fraction of what health really means
• What Dr. Mega sees as the most exciting part of how Verily is mapping human health
• How Verily is marrying the genotype and the phenotype to understand human health data on a much broader scope
• How patients benefit from Verily’s practice of using technology to bridge the gap between their health condition and quality of life
• The 3 tools Verily is using to break through the barriers of precision health
• How having their personal health data creates a more positive patient outcome
• The creative partnerships Verily is forming to drive what the next level of health looks like
• Verily’s 2-pillar approach to creating transparency and forming long-term bonds

Connect with Dr. Jess Mega

• Verily
• Dr. Mega on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jordan Shlain, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• ViVE
• Dr. Shlain on Twitter
• Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

The same way that a company like Stripe provides payment processing infrastructure for eCommerce, Zus Health is building the infrastructure for digital health.

CEO Jonathan Bush and his team are doing the dirty work to make electronic health records more accessible and accelerate innovation in the patient relationship management space.

Prior to Zus, Jonathan spent 22 years as CEO of Athena Health, the leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records. He also served as a US Army Medic during Desert Storm and EMT for the City of New Orleans.

On this episode of The Beat, Jonathan joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain  to explain how building infrastructure will give the current wave of digital health companies staying power and encourage innovation in the space. Jonathan describes how his team is moving old medical records into ZODS (the Zus operational data store) and when the protocol will be open for building. Listen in for Jonathan’s insight on the explosion of venture capital in health tech and find out how you can be a part of the Zus Health team.

Topics Covered

• How the goal of Zus Health differs from Jonathan’s previous venture with Athena
• Why the claims-based architecture of the healthcare system is resistant to the faster-better-cheaper model of innovation
• How Zus is to healthcare what Plaid is to banking
• How venture capital in the health tech space has increased exponentially in the last 7 years
• Jonathan’s hope that building the infrastructure will give the current wave of digital health companies more staying power (and encourage people to build more)
• The constraints Jonathan’s team faces in building Zus and when the protocol will be open for building
• Why the term emergency medical records or EMR is no longer relevant
• Giving healthcare data the agency to find you vs. waiting for you to access it
• The mapping Jonathan’s team at Zus is doing to move old medical records into ZODS (Zus operational data store)
• The many open positions on the Zus Health team
• How Jonathan defines health as the full exposure to personal joy
   

Connect with Jonathan Bush

Zus Health
 

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

Athena Health

Noom

CommonWell Health Alliance

Carequality

21st Century Cures Act

Innovaccer

Introductory Quote

[5:07] “Is this the equivalent in the FinTech world of what Plaid is to banks, Zus is to...” “You got it. Stipe or Twilio. You don’t want to go and build, you know, 600 connections to 600 hospitals and then do all the normalization. One guy go do that miserable work and then serve up 15 different APIs for manifesting it in whatever software you’re building.”

About Michael Clark:

Michael Clark is committed to building organizations that simplify healthcare complexities and put the patient and provider first. As CEO of DeliverHealth, he guides a team of healthcare experts in clearing the way for essential, resilient connections among providers, clinicians, and patients.

For more than 25 years, Michael’s “patient and provider first” mindset has helped healthcare organizations thrive. He has spent most of his career working with healthcare startups and PE-backed midsize and mid-cap public companies. He has focused on boosting physician satisfaction, reducing health systems costs, and improving security.

Before leading the spin-out of the HIM and EHR service businesses from Nuance Healthcare and founding DeliverHealth, Michael served as General Manager, of Provider Solutions at Nuance. While there, he led the division’s aggressive growth of its flagship, Dragon Medical One, which is now used by hundreds of thousands of physicians, and an expansion in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, ultimately helping the company earn the 2020 #1 KLAS ranking for Dragon Medical One.

Things You’ll Learn:

• EHR services are the second-biggest investment health systems make, after the people that provide care.
• Asynchronous omnichannel communications are prevalent in other industries and could greatly benefit healthcare processes.
• Digital solutions such as virtual intake forms and language interpretation services can broaden health equity and access.
• Purpose-built AI tools can be improved with human interaction to learn from and get more complete solutions for their users.
• Innovation happens not only in the development of technology but also in people and processes.

Resources:

• Follow and connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
• Follow DeliverHealth on LinkedIn. 
• Discover more about DeliverHealth on their Website.
• Connect with Michael at [email protected].